Princess Marie attends UNESCO seminar as Patron

Today, Princess Marie attended a UNESCO seminar in Copenhagen as Patron of the Danish UNESCO Commission. She is patron since 2009.

The aim of the seminar was to identify focus areas for the Danish UNESCO work in the coming years. Michel Steen-Hansen , a member of the Commission, said on his blog that the question “What do we want to do with UNESCO in Denmark? ” is very important right now : “A rather central issue, because in Denmark it has been decided to spend considerably fewer funds than the rest of the Nordic countries working for cooperation between nations in education, science, culture, communication, and information.”

Stakeholders from science and education institutions, from the civil society, from relevant ministries, from local authorities and from the world heritage sites, Man and Biosphere Reserves and UNESCO Global Geoparks spend the afternoon together to provide an input to and to discuss the direction of the Danish UNESCO.

The seminar was arranged by the Secretariat of the Danish UNESCO National Commission, which is based in the Danish Ministry of Education. The seminar took place in the newly erected building BLOX in Copenhagen. BLOX was inaugurated by Queen Margrethe a few weeks ago and Billed-Bladet reports Princess Marie was as impressed by the building as the Queen was during the inauguration.

Here is Princess Marie’s speech :

“Good day,

It is my pleasure today to be able to participate in the opening of this seminar for decision makers and professionals with active involvement in UNESCO’s work in Denmark.

What do we want with UNESCO’s work in Denmark? This is the heading for today’s program, and I look forward to hearing the good suggestions that will surely come during the day.

Four years ago, as a protector of the Danish UNESCO National Commission, I was involved in launching the now former Danish strategy for UNESCO’s work.

And a lot has happened since then. Both in our own work, but also in international cooperation within UNESCO’s areas – education, science, culture, and communication.

The UN’s World Sustainable Development Goal sets a new framework and direction for UNESCOs, and our all efforts for equal opportunities and greater justice for all, girls and women, as well as boys and men.

It is about quality education for all, about equality, about science for the common good, on cultural heritage and cultural diversity and on free media and freedom of expression, for a better future for all and for our common planet.

In Denmark, in recent years, we have seen a development in our commitment to UNESCO’s work. There is growing interest in UNESCO programs and academic networks from ministries, Danish municipalities, universities, schools and civil society.

I am thinking of on the growing number of Danish sites that are listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, which includes both natural heritage such as Stevns Klint and the Wadden Sea and cultural heritage such as Christiansfeld and Parforce hunting in North Zealand.

But it also applies to Møn og Nyord in Vordingborg municipality, which was approved last year as the first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Denmark.

And about exciting networks of cities such as Sønderborg, which are part of UNESCO’s global network of Learning Cities and Kolding, which has become the UNESCO Creative City.

For quite recently, I had the pleasure of participating in the launch of the beautiful and impressive Geokids project in Geopark Odsherred, Denmark’s first UNESCO Global Geopark.

In Geokids, all children in the municipality have had the opportunity to participate in creative teaching about nature and landscape, about local produce and cultural history. And all the students have made each mask, a total of about 3,500 masks that are set on rods in the landscape. Each mask is distinctive and different from the others, and together they make up an impressive common piece of art.

Princess Marie at Geopark Osherred

This is a great example of how to engage children and their families in a concrete and fun way in a project that deals with learning about nature and landscape and how we live and use nature so that it is also preserved for the future.

And this is a good example of how, through active UNESCO work, we can connect local action with global goals and challenges, and contribute to relevant follow-up to the UN’s world goals.

I hope that the seminar today will contribute to the development of precise efforts and strong partnerships, thereby strengthening UNESCO’s work in Denmark and Denmark’s efforts in UNESCO.

Thank you for your attention.”

For this event, Princess Marie wore the white Ganni dress she first wore in September 2016 during a visit to Naevsted.

She also wore new navy Jimmy Choo ‘Romy’ pumps! It is her fourth pair of ‘Romy’, she also owns them in nude suede, black suede, and black glitter. She carried a matching bag, the ‘Selma’ by Michael Kors.